You know which fictional detective I really like? Dale Cooper, from Twin Peaks, mainly because of the way he's used to lampoon Sherlock Holmes and all the other ultra-rationalist fictional detectives out there. Holmes and his ilk use apparently-rational methods (which actually involve wildly irrational leaps of logic) to solve crimes. Cooper inverts that and uses explicitly irrational methods, ranging from dream-quests to throwing rocks at a bottle while thinking about Tibet, and finds that his investigation progresses equally well.

Temperance, based on your description, sounds incredibly odious. She reminds me, oddly, of Creationism: she represents the idea that if you dress something up in supposedly scientific, rational terms, then you can claim to be scientific and rational, which isn't the case at all (just look at, say, Scientology, which uses E-meters and carefully documented "tech" to preach crazy garbage). It's like a cult of science as opposed to actual science: using the forms and rituals of the scientific priesthood to utter prophecies and edicts that have no actual empirical basis.

I knew there was a reason I didn't need to glance in the direction of this show XD. Personally, I think everyone that's come in contact with it probably needs to be strapped in a chair and forced to watch the first season of The Wire to balance things out.

As for the neocon bent of Bones and its extreeeemly unlikely heroine, all I can say is YIKES. Even 24 occasionally allows us to have pity on the wives and children of terrorists.
I suppose the next thing is for some senator in America to come out saying that if Temperance said it, it must be true :P

@Arthur B she represents the idea that if you dress something up in supposedly scientific, rational terms, then you can claim to be scientific and rational, which isn't the case at all
And personally, I don't know which is more distasteful, shunning science because it is scientific and rational, or pretending your batshit theory is science. The funny thing is that most cults of science will actually do both, dismissing other legitimate science as the bad stuff and setting its crazy theories up as the only truth to ever walk the earth.

Hey, hey, hey, I can think of at least one immensly compelling reason to watch Bones: David Boreanaz and his Funny Little Face. Seriously, I was never into the guy when he was Buffy's main squeeze but over the years he's gone all soft round the edges and he has this permanently confused caveman crinkle between his dark eyes, and I find that bizarrely irresistable. Witness my horrific middled aged woman crush. He's basically Angel with a thin layer of ordinary cop-guy but it works for me. Also I like to support him. Because he's so cute and confused and he always seems to be saying "Gosh, I'm on the set of a TV show. How did I get into this acting gig?"

If there is an episode of Bones where he flips and tears out someone's throat with his fangs that would be totally awesome.

And on today's installment: Temperance's Authorial Voice tells us that Cosmetic Surgery Is Evil.

What's annoying is that the show *does* have a lot going for it. Pretty much any scene in which "Bones" is off-camera is great.

We also learned that being a lawyer is slightly worse than being gay. I'm still waiting for the Evil!Homosexuals episode.

And it gets better and better:

Episode 12 "The Superhero in the Alley" we meet a group of roleplayers and comic book geeks, who are "delusional, unable to distinguish reality from fantasy".

Episode 13 "The Woman in the Garden" Temperance beats up an El Salvadorian gang leader in a fist fight without breaking a sweat.

From the way this is going, I wonder if they're going to try and come up with an episode where Temperance coolly points out that it's rational to believe that the supreme power that created the universe comes down to speak to national leaders every so often, and therefore it is only logical to follow unquestioningly everything the Bush administration says...

Dudes, what is WRONG with you all! WHERE is your damned sense of priorities. In Episode 15, Two Bodies In The Lab, David Boreanaz DANCES in the most adorable fashion imaginable. Screw the oppressive and fucked up right wing agenda. Get a sense of PERSPECTIVE. David. Boreanaz. Dances.

Of course in the same episode, she beats up an armed FBI agent-slash-mafia-hitman with her hands tied behind her back

And I suppose if David Boreanaz danced off a cliff you'd dance after him, huh?

Wouldn't we all?

Like a pied piper for the 21st century...